April 10, 2013

Apple's iPhone Still Reigns Supreme in Key Demographic

In new data released on Tuesday, the iPhone reigns supreme in the hands of nearly one out of every two users in a vitally important demographic. According to marketresearch.com, there are approximately 25.6 million people in the 12-17 demographic that spends $110 billion a year.

Furthermore, a recent report from Piper Jaffray found that Apple is winning the cell phone battle in this key age group. The survey found that 48 percent of teens own an iPhone. This is up 8 percent from the previous Q4 2012 survey. Further, 62 percent plan to make an iPhone their next mobile device purchase. This compares with 23 percent who plan to purchase an Android phone.

Apple's iPhone 5 was enhanced, re-engineered and re-designed over their previous model. One of the key design changes included adding In-Cell technology which integrated multitouch technology directly into the display to make the iPhone the lightest smartphone to date. In total, the iPhone 5 was quiet the upgrade and when compared to the Galaxy SIII sales in North America, the iPhone stomped on their competitor's offering.

The only feature that stopped the iPhone from killing the Galaxy SIII outright was Samsung's shift to a larger 5" display which caught the imagination of many consumers. Patently Apple posted an early January report titled "Will Apple Follow this Year's Smartphone Trend with a larger iPhone Display?" The report questioned whether Apple would quickly follow this sweeping trend to larger smartphone displays.

Now a new research note that surfaced yesterday from Topeka Capital Markets states that their recent data from China and Taiwan indicate that Apple may indeed have larger models built into their roadmap. When Apple intends to actually deliver these larger display iPhone models at is another matter, though Apple can't afford to buck this wind of change for too long.

In the end, it's Apple's ongoing reputation for quality craftsmanship in being able to re-engineer and re-design the iPhone's hardware along with being able to intelligently integrate software into their smartphone that continues to win over the market in general and the key 12-17 demographic specifically. Apple's depth of engineering is what will power future iPhone sales and beat out this decade's greatest copycat.

Yes, there was a tiny lull in iPhone 5 sales as noted by Hon Hai's latest financials. However, it isn't based on the lack of interest in the iPhone 5 but rather the expectation that the next iPhone will even be greater. That has to drive the competition crazy – and that's just fine with Apple.

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